I have several bits of excellent news to tell you about so I will crack on.....
Regular readers (!) will be aware that we have been in the process of selling our house and buying a new home for several months now and that the process has been a little frustrating with delays over what really seemed to be the silliest of things.
In fact, the situation got so tedious a couple of weeks ago that we decided, quite seriously, that if things weren't sorted out by the end of this week that we would pull out of the whole situation and save our sanity,,,,and probably quite a lot of expense.
I am delighted to be able to say that we have now exchanged contracts on both properties and we have a completion date which is next Friday....yes, November 7th, less than a week, and we will be in our new home.
I'm very excited at the whole prospect of moving and the adventures that we will have. I know there will be hiccups along the way but I feel ready for it all. Bring it on!!
However, as I am sitting in the back room typing this, I am suddenly aware that this is the last Saturday that we will spend here in the house that has been our home for 17 years. There will be no more Christmas Eve quizzes here and no more barbecues held by us.We have had a few of both over the past 17 years!! No more birthday parties and no more late night music which have also featured highly in the past.
However, hopefully barbecues and quizzes, late night music and birthday parties will become a feature of our new home....well, maybe not the late night music - can't stay up too late these days without needing ages to recover - but traditions will carry on in our new home and I am very ready to make more memories for our family to treasure.
The exchange of contracts was due to take place at the beginning of the week but things were delayed again as solicitors became unreachable by phone and emails and post went astray but the deals were finally done and the exchanges were made on the morning of Thursday October 30th 2014.
Now, I have been on standby for nanny duties over the last few days as grandchild number 4 was due to be born on October 24th. The due date came and went and, to be honest, my daughter was having such a great pregnancy that she didn't feel anywhere near going into labour and so she was booked in for induction on Nov 5th. As so often happens, there were a few little concerns with lack of baby movements and daughter was asked to go into hospital to have the baby monitored just to make sure everything was ok.
The monitor showed a few dips in heartbeat but nothing too alarming. However, my daughter was given the option of staying in hospital and being induced earlier than expected which she was delighted with! So, I got the call at about 7 pm on Wednesday 29th to pack my nighty and toothbrush and go and spend the night with my grandchildren while daddy stayed with mummy at the hospital.
That night I climbed into bed with my 2 year old grandson and waited to hear any news. Obviously, little sleep was had by me but the children all slept like logs until 5 am when the girls woke up excited that mummy was having a baby and excited because I was there.
No baby arrived overnight so I had the little ones for most of the day and we busied ourselves with pumpkin carving, broomstick buying and Christmas decoration shopping while we waited for news.
Having 3 little people to keep my eye on is not something I have had to do for a very long time and so I left my phone in the car while we went into the garden centre where we brought chocolate rabbits for everyone.
On our return to the car, I checked my phone and saws that I had 5 voicemail messages and several missed calls, one of which was from my daughter. I didn't know whether to listen to the voicemails or ring her so I decided to return her call. She answered, bright and breezy, asked how the children were behaving and so on and, in the background I could hear a baby crying. I assumed that it was someone elses baby but I was wrong. The cries were that of my newborn grandson, Marley, who had arrived about half an hour earlier. Mum and son were absolutely fine and all was well.
Due to the wonders of modern technology, Mum was able to speak in turn to all of her children and all of them were able to hear their new brother's cries which they were amazed to hear.
After I had taken in the news and settled the children in their car seats I listened to the voicemail messages which were all from estate agents and solicitors confirming that contracts had been exchanged a short while earlier. So, in essence, Marley was born and we exchanged contracts within about 10 minutes of each other!!
A few hours later I took the children back to their house where mummy, daddy and Marley were waiting to greet them. Yes, everything had gone so well that the hospital were happy for the new addition to the family to go home. This meant that I was able to see my new grandson and give him a proper cuddle about 6 hours after he was born. What a privilege.
So, Thursday October 30th 2014 was a pretty memorable day in the life of me! A day that I will remember for a very long time. A day when our future plans took another step forward and a day when our family welcomed another member. A day when I was able to spend hours with my gorgeous grandchildren and when I was able to hold my newborn grandson for the very first time.
A day when I was overwhelmed with pride and love for my daughter and a day when I felt so lucky to be alive to experience such pleasure. Absolutely wonderful.
xxxxx
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